The New Kid: Rewrite
by Yuja
Summary: For once in his life, Isaac would like nothing more than to be normal. But when you've just changed schools from big city to small town-add in bullies, a tyrant math teacher, an array of local personalities, and odd reports in world news-you may as well toss in the towel on normalcy. And that's not even counting the ability to talk to plants... nor the shady people in the suits.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer:_ This is a modern AU (alternate universe) fan fiction story based on the Golden Sun game series, as created by Camelot and published by Nintendo. Mr. Lys the history teacher is an original character that was originally slated to appear in another GS fanfic of mine, "Precursor." All characters and locations from the games belong to Nintendo and Camelot._

* * *

**CHAPTER ONE**

* * *

_When a lone man entered the phone booth on the corner of 10__th__ and Main, it was night out. Thunder grumbled in the distance, and rain fell harshly against the Plexiglas sides. While such details did not make his night any easier, none were of much concern to the stranger._

_After inserting the required change, the man deftly dialed the intended digits. "It has been done," he informed when the call was answered. _

_The story was no longer under their control._

* * *

"Experts are saying that the census shows yet another population movement, similar to that seen little more than a century ago. One likely reason, they've said, is that families are opting to move away from the crowded cities, such as Tolbi or Xian in Angara, or Kibombo in Gondowan, to quieter regions such as Lalivero, Vault, and Contigo.

"In Tolbi today, the CEO of L&B Enterprises announced that the company will be opening new stores across Angara and Contigo, while continuing to fund research in aerospace and multiple medical fields. The number of jobs to be created by this endeavor is estimated to range clear into the-"

The audio cut out with a soft, "click," causing Dora Wood to glance sideways at her son. After a moment's pause, the boy, or rather, her sixteen-year old teenager, sat back from the radio controls. He gave a long, tired sigh, and returned to staring out his window. In truth, staring out his window was perhaps all he had done during the entire drive north, and his middle-aged mother didn't expect much change in the behavior anytime soon.

So much for another forty-five minutes of music after news and traffic.

The woman put on a smile, keeping her eyes on the road before them but sparing the occasional glimpse. "I think we're really going to like it here, Isaac," she tried. "I grew up in a town much like this one, you know. Grandpa was even thinking of moving here once. There's less traffic, less noise…" She decided to broach the subject she knew would need more discussing later. "The school won't be so packed, so I want to hear you've at least _tried_ making friends this time. And no more fights. I don't care if it's always the other person that starts it, you're to go straight to a teacher at the first sign of trouble, or—"

"Mom, I'll be fine."

"Funny," she continued, attempting to keep all—or at least most—of the irritation out of her voice. They were both tired and both stressed beyond a point that either wanted to admit, and, given the time, their hunger and low blood sugar levels would only fuel a disagreement between the mother and son duo. They'd already had enough of those lately. "Seems I remember you saying exactly that… right before you gave that boy Shin a black eye."

Isaac Wood rolled his own eyes at the recent memory. "I was aiming for his shoulder. Not my fault he ducked."

"Alright, alright. But I still don't want to find out, _after the fact_, that you've been having problems. You have to tell people about these things, Sweetie." Dora gave a pleading look, but her son was still occupied with watching the scenery go by. She shook her head, giving up for the time being, and the drive continued in silence.

* * *

It was… small. That would be the first thing Isaac thought upon seeing the house. Sure, there were two floors to it, but the width of it from the front view just looked so... cramped. The "For Sale" sign was still posted in the yard, with a large, red strip of a sticker saying "SOLD" in bold white font slapped over it. The teen tried raking his memory for how much his mom had invested in the place. Hopefully, it hadn't been much. Even compared to the apartment complex they had been living in, the house they were now moving into just looked… well… _small_!

"Well? What do you think?" His mom was beaming beside him, waiting for his opinion on what she must have thought to be a great catch. Sure, it was more inheritance than purchase, yeah, but telling her it was small and that the mini moving van in the front yard was roomier probably wouldn't have been the smartest of moves.

"It looks… er… great." His eyes roved over the scraggly hedges under the front windows, a small tree of… some kind, and the occasional brown patch in the grass. "Really nice." Dora, thankfully, didn't seem to catch the dull, I-really-don't-want-to-be-here sarcasm.

"I knew it. We are _definitely_ going to like it here. Oh?" The woman put her hands on her hips, and tipped her head curiously as she studied the house. "Hmm. That roof might need some added work, though."

Isaac took that as a worthy cue, and coughed lightly. "Um, Mom?" He motioned with a jerk of his head toward the house when she looked to him. "Think we could move on inside?"

"Oh! Yes, yes, of course." The modestly plump woman fumbled for a suitcase handle, now in noticeably higher spirits. "Let's get a look around on the inside before we empty the trunk. It may need some cleaning beforehand. And I can just send you up later to have a look at that roofing." For Isaac's sake, it was probably for the best that Dora didn't see the grimace on her son's face as she bustled inside.

* * *

For some, Vale High was the gateway to a better future. For others, it was little more than a day-to-day routine. For the rest, well, they probably couldn't care less about it, so long as that bell continued to ring on time every afternoon.

Isaac wasn't sure yet which category of student he would soon fall under. It wasn't that he didn't care, and there were times when his work and grades showed an intelligent "spark," as one teacher had once called it. But when it came down to it, Isaac didn't purposely do the bare minimum needed to get by in school. In fact, he usually tried very, very hard to do the maximum.

…Unfortunately, most of those attempts ended with him asleep at the kitchen table at night, a crick in his neck and back the next morning, and a less than thrilling letter of the alphabet scribbled in vivid red on the front of the test or assignment he would be handed back a few days later. It was somewhat depressing when he thought about it, and his mother was never exactly thrilled when she had to read over his latest grades.

…While sitting across from the school's principal.

…In his office.

...Yeah...

Isaac shuddered with an odd twitch. This time was going to be different, though. He wasn't in Tolbi any longer. He was in Vale, where no one knew a thing about him. He could make an honest attempt at finishing the remaining two years of his high school career out of that proverbial fire, and back into that only slightly safer frying pan. And, if he was lucky, maybe he'd finally find a way to get out and stay out of that frying pan, as well.

Preferably without going _back_ into the fire.

"You must be Isaac Wood, I take it." It wasn't said as a question, but Isaac still nodded dumbly in reply. The woman straightened from jotting X's and dashes in what looked to be an attendance roster for the class, and at last turned her head to finally observe what was, apparently, her newest student. She was a woman of medium stature, roughly the same height as Isaac, if not slightly shorter, with brown eyes and long, light brunette hair pulled into a ponytail that fell to her lower back. "Good," she said shortly, and her mouth formed a serious line. Was she strict, or just bored? It was hard for Isaac to tell for sure, so far. For all he knew, it was about to be both. The instructor turned back to her large, spiral notebook from before, and flipped to a tab labeled, "Seating." A modestly manicured finger hovered across and down a rough diagram of squares with names jotted in the middle of each.

"Lucky you; I seem to have a small selection for you," the instructor stated, briefly glancing up at the classroom of chatty students ahead of her. "Three, in fact. Window near the middle, on towards the back, or front and center?"

"Uhh," Isaac answered intelligently, late to realize exactly what she was asking of him. Front and center was out of the question, and it was little wonder that it would remain empty. The window sounded inviting, if not for the higher-than-thou glances being cast his way from the crew already there. So that left… "I-I guess… back?" It didn't look like much better of a choice, seeing as how he'd be flanked by a frowning guy with a possible attitude problem to his right, and a sleeping guy with crazy red hair to his left. But maybe, if each of them kept to their own, he'd be able to hold out without getting in trouble for at least this class.

The teacher nodded at his choice, and quickly jotted his first and last name into the box representing the seat. "Alright. Now that we have that out of the way," she straightened again as she continued to speak in a mostly unconcerned fashion, "I'm Mrs. Chaucha Maris. You will call me Mrs. Maris, welcome to Trigonometry, here's your syllabus, late assignments lose ten points per day, no late assignments past five days, I am not here to babysit, and I do _not_ put up with deliberate troublemaking. You can pick out a textbook for yourself at the table behind your desk. Any questions? Good. Head on back to your seat now, if you'd please, I have a class to start."

Uh, okay then.

Assuring himself that, yes, his head was still attached to his shoulders, Isaac nodded once more, picked the path which was the clearest to his new desk, and started his trek to the back of the room. While he was doing that, Mrs. Maris called for everyone's attention. Surprisingly, or maybe not, the room fell almost completely silent at her command.

"Alright, people. We have a new student today, which you all seem to have already noticed- Lyle stop chattering and face the front when the instructor is speaking, thank you." Okay, _now_ the class was completely silent, right after the few scattered chuckles and giggles throughout the room ceased as well. Isaac, meanwhile, was ignoring as much as he could as he continued to his desk, where he would finally be able to drop his nearly empty backpack on the floor. He didn't need to see the glances or stares he was surely receiving from the other teens he passed. Not one to miss a beat, Mrs. Maris continued right along. "Isaac Wood is joining us from Tolbi. Is there anything you'd like to say, Isaac?"

Once again, Isaac realized a few seconds too late that he was being asked something, and even longer to process what it was exactly that he was being asked. "Uhhh," he started, looking around at all of the blank and uninterested looks, "no. Not really."

"Very well. Please pick out a book and take your seat. Everyone else: page 217." Isaac did as told, and it seemed as though that would be that. That is, until Mrs. Maris paused a minute into her lesson. She pursed her lips and breathed out through her nose. For several terrifying seconds, Isaac thought the woman's disapproving frown was aimed at him. What had he done? How had he managed to screw up already? His mom was going to have a fit!

"Garet Jerra, would you mind joining us sometime today?"

Wait, who?

"Garet Jerra."

Isaac was confused. The teacher was definitely looking in his direction, but surely she hadn't forgotten his name already. Had she? To his right, the teen with the brown hair pulled back in a loose ponytail chuckled to himself and shook his head at his notepaper. Other students around the room were chancing glances back at him and hiding their own snickers as well. Isaac's confusion continued to climb.

Mrs. Maris shook her head. Isaac's confusion began to trade out for dread as he saw the woman pick up a ruler stick from the chalk tray and start down the aisle between desks. It wasn't until she stopped just in front of him with arms crossed and turned to the side that Isaac realized the true intended target: the redhead who was still snoozing while draped across the desk to Isaac's left. The teacher granted one last warning. "Mr. Jerra." Five seconds (and something that sounded like a snore) later, the ruler smacked loudly against the desk.

"DULLAHAN IN THE LUNCH ROOM!"

Isaac jumped in his seat at the boy's outburst, while everyone else in the room snorted or burst into outright laughed. Everyone, that is, except Mrs. Maris.

"Thank you for that enlightening declaration, Mr. Jerra. Feel completely free to take it with you to detention hall if you-"

The boy frantically waved his hands in front of him. "NO! No no, that's- that's okay, Mrs. Maris. I'm sorry. I swear I'll stay awake this time." His face split into a desperate grin. Mrs. Maris tapped the ruler on her crossed arm and smirked just the slightest bit.

"Thank you, Mr. Jerra. Your commitment is appreciated. Page 217." With that, the instructor turned and moved back to the front of the room, leaving Garet to exhale a relieved sigh. It was also then that he realized the lack of an empty desk beside him.

The redheaded boy blinked a few times, and at last stated the obvious. "You're new." He ignored or completely missed the snickers coming from the students directly around them.

Isaac raised an eyebrow, not entirely sure how to respond to that. "Um, yeah, thanks for pointing that out." Was this guy for real?

"No no, I mean… This is Vale."

"That's what the exit sign on the highway said."

"No no no. I mean this is _Vale_. No one new ever comes here."

Isaac visibly deflated. Great.

* * *

Isaac couldn't be more relieved when the bell signaling the end of the class period at last sounded. Then he remembered that he had three more classes to go, three more chances to screw up, and suddenly the bell didn't sound as grand.

"Hey, sorry 'bout earlier."

Isaac looked up from gathering his things to see the redhead looking at him. Oh, he'd been talking to him. "Don't worry about it. Everyone falls asleep in class at some point."

The redhead gave a frustrated sigh, but somehow it didn't feel like it was directed at Isaac. "I mean the pointing out that you're new here."

Oh. "Can't really say that your facts are wrong. We've only been here for a few days now."

"We?"

"My mom and I."

"Oh! Right." For a short moment, they finished packing up their belongings in silence. "I'm Garet, by the way."

"Isaac."

Garet swung his backpack over one shoulder and gave a goofy grin. "Cool. Welcome to Vale, Isaac. Oh, and the sour guy behind you is the dwarf known as Grumpy."

Turning in place, Isaac almost jumped again at seeing that the brown-haired teen was still standing at the desk to the right of Isaac's. The teen in question rolled his eyes before switching his backpack to the left shoulder. "It's Felix. Nice to meet you, Isaac." He extended his now free right hand, which Isaac hesitantly shook. "Don't mind Garet. He's a natural Dopey."

"Hey!"

Isaac couldn't help a faint smile. "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind."

"Yeah, yeah, let's all laugh it up at Garet," the redhead groused. "I'm off to class. Where you headed next, Isaac?"

Oh right, next class. Isaac shifted through the front pouch on his bag where he had stuffed his schedule, and pulled out the now crumpled slip of blue paper. "Um… It says 'World History' is next." Garet and Felix both peered around Isaac to read the printout from either side.

"You have Mr. Lys downstairs for your teacher," Felix noted first, after which Garet continued.

"Nice. Mia has that class. Long blue hair, insanely polite and helpful; no way you'll miss her. Then it looks like… Oh man! You're back with us for Bio, and I think Mia has that same Lit class as you at the end."

Felix nodded. "Jenna has Literature that period, too."

"How awesome is that?"

"Probably a lot more awesome if any of us actually gets to a class on time."

Isaac merely nodded, having not spoken through the entire back-and-forth exchange between his new classmates. It left him feeling a little lost. "So um… Can I go for class now?"

Garet momentarily looked confused by the question. "Huh? Oh! Sure thing! You know where it is, right?"

Pointing out that Felix had already confirmed that the classroom for World History was downstairs, Isaac assured them he'd be able to figure it out from there. It seemed to be a good enough answer for them. The three of them exited into the hallway, and separated with one last, "See you in Bio!" from Garet. Finding his way back to the main staircase, Isaac headed for the ground floor. The stairs, like back at the school in Tolbi, were wide to allow for the heavy traffic between class periods. Unfortunately, the school itself was smaller. It was the only reasoning Isaac could think of to explain why the staircases at Vale High weren't _as_ wide as Tolbi High's had been, and thus were still fairly packed with students going between floors. This meant it was more than easy to brush shoulders with other students.

"Hey!" Even more unfortunate was Isaac's luck in dodging such situations.

Turning around after a particularly rough shoulder-bumping in the midst of all the jostling, Isaac saw a scattered mess of papers and a textbook littering the middle of the stairwell. A student with long blue hair was stooping to try and quickly gather the materials before any more damage could be done, while the rest of the student body glanced at the scene and continued around it. Long blue hair? Hadn't that been the description Garet had given of their friend? Sol be darned if Isaac could remember the name at that moment, though. He quickly stooped as well to help pick up the papers that had followed him down the steps.

"Sorry! Sorry, didn't mean to."

"Yeah, you better not have."

That… did not sound like a girl, and definitely not a polite and helpful girl. Looking up, Isaac finally got a good look at the other student. It wasn't a girl at all! It was a male student, probably a senior judging from the older age appearance, and with aqua blue hair that reached down to the middle of his back. The frown on his face was one that suggested that he would gladly place all of the blame for the situation on Isaac for daring to get in this person's way.

So much for the day getting off to a decent start…

Luckily, the day soon started to look up again. The real Mia, Isaac decided after getting the name again, was easily a million times better to meet than the jerk back at the stairs. Apparently, the history instructor shared a similar thought process. Instead of giving Isaac an option for his seating choice, Isaac had instantly been directed to the desk next to Mia's, and Mia herself had been directed to help him out in getting caught up with the lesson.

She was a pretty one. Her aqua blue hair was long like with the guy on the stairs, but where his bangs had been trimmed to frame his face, hers had been pulled back into braids that met in a single one down her back. Her eyes of the same hue showed wells of openhearted kindness. But perhaps what struck Isaac the most of all was how absolutely _genuine_ she was in wanting to know more about a complete stranger.

"How long have you been in Vale, Isaac?"

"Oh, uh," Isaac paused in the note he was jotting down from the reading. Mr. Lys had given them a chapter to go through, wasting no time in returning to whatever work he was now typing key-by-key into the computer. If Isaac were to take a guess, he would say the balding, jittery man was in need of a class on keyboarding.

They had arrived in the middle of the previous week. His mother had been the one to decide on the plan that Isaac would start school on Monday. Isaac told Mia as much, conveniently leaving out the detail about Dora doing the panning.

Mia nodded. It made sense to her, at least. "Good idea. Did you get to see much of the town over the weekend, then?"

"Not really. We needed to clear out the moving van as soon as possible so it could be returned. Pretty much all I've seen so far beside the school has been a few fast food places with takeout menus." The two of them chuckled at that. Thanks to Mia, Isaac learned he had pretty much seen all that Vale had to offer when it came to chain brand dining. Vale may have been a growing town, but it still didn't have the same pull that other towns to the south had when it came to major restaurants.

Considering how they were in a town at the base of a mountain, next to a major river, and with who knew how many special zoning laws, Isaac couldn't really find it within himself to be surprised.

"And what about the people? Everyone treating you alright so far?"

Isaac made a so-so face for that one. He had been alright with Garet and Felix earlier. But then there were the generally unfriendly looks he received from most of the remaining students. Plus there had been that one guy on the stairs…

"Oh, _him_." Mia's expression switched from eagerly interested to bored and deadpanned at the provided description. "That sounds like Alex. Alex Azul. Ignore him; he's a jerk."

And that was all that was mentioned about the unpleasant guy from before. The two continued to chat off and on for the remainder of the class period. Then it was off to Biology, meaning another encounter with the two guys from math. Gary and Frank, was it? George and Fred? No, no. Garet and Felix. Isaac was quickly coming to the conclusion that he would need to remember those names, especially when the owners took it upon themselves to haul him with them to the cafeteria during their class' lunch break.

No, really. They actually hauled him.

"Stick with us, buddy!" Garet had pretty much crowed, flinging an arm uninvited over Isaac's shoulders. If he noticed the sudden stiffness of those shoulders, he was very good at playing oblivious. "We'll make sure you learn the ropes of the place in no time."

It was also at lunch that Isaac finally met Jenna: Felix's sister, Mia's close friend, and Garet's trusted accomplice in the art of pranks and irritating Felix.

"Alrighty, Isaac. Spill."

Isaac lowered the halfway decent cheeseburger he was about to eat. A brief glance at everyone gave no follow up details. "I'm sorry?"

"I heard you ran into Alex earlier. Sucks that it would happen on your first day, but too bad, so sad." Jenna waved a hand as though shooing the thought. "Ignoring crabby pants"—there may have been a snort from Garet's direction—"how are you liking things so far? Everyone else treating you right? Seen any of the sights yet? Settling down okay?"

Jenna, Isaac was quickly learning, was one of those people who could ramble away at a quick pace, and very likely have no idea she was doing it. She probably saw everyone else as just being slow. It was almost bizarre to imagine that she was the younger sister of someone as quiet and laid back as Felix. Side-by-side, however, it was becoming easy enough to see the similarities. Jenna's hair was a deep auburn, as though someone had taken Felix's brown and directly added in the red. They even had the same unruly strands of hair that insisted on standing out from the rest of their bangs in the front.

Isaac repeated almost the exact same answers he had given to Mia earlier. But then Jenna had thrown him the curveball. "Cool." She swiped a tatter tot from Felix's tray and popped it in her mouth, ignoring the dark look it earned her as she chewed and swallowed. "Want to hang out with us after school? Vale doesn't really offer much, but we do have a pretty awesome park. How about it?"

The new student blinked at the girl stupidly. Was there something in Vale's water supply? Had Isaac really woken up and gone to school that morning? Was he seriously being _invited_ to "hang out" with people his age? Obviously, something was wrong with the universe that day.

"Um… Thanks. Really, I appreciate it, but…" Ohhh, crud. What was he supposed to do? No one had been like this towards him in years! Nice? Ha! He was usually lucky if he could so much as get the time of day from a classmate!

"You're welcome to join us, Isaac, but don't feel that you have to." Mia smiled kindly, paying no attention to Jenna now pouting across the table. "This _is_ only your first day, after all."

"R-right. Yeah. Thanks. But I really should head home after school today. My mom's kinda expecting me to help unpack some more things."

Jenna slouched in her chair with her arms crossed. Her brother gave her a light shove against the side of her head, causing her to flail to both right herself and to swat at him in return. "Don't worry about it, Isaac," Felix assured him, easily fending off his younger sibling without needing to look. "Jenna's just being a brat."

Isaac smiled the best he could to return the friendly sentiments.

* * *

Dora turned off the tap to the kitchen sink when she heard the front door open that afternoon. "Isaac? Is that you?" she called, quickly drying her hands on a dish towel and moving so she could more easily see into the front room. Isaac dropped his book bag next to the door and turned to lock the dead bolt behind him. "Oh, good. I noticed you left your cell phone this morning. Didn't want you getting lost on the walk home."

Isaac shook his head. "Nah, I was okay." He pulled out of his jacket pocket and held up a familiar piece of folded printer paper. His mother instantly recognized it as the map of Vale she had printed for him.

"Good. Good, I'm glad. How was school? Oh, and move your bag, will you, please? I need to go to the store later, and I don't want to hurt myself trying to get to my own door."

Isaac opted to leave the first question unanswered, and stooped to pick up the heavy thing at his feet. "What do you need from the store? I could go down the street and get it for you." He dropped the bag at the end of the couch. The store itself wasn't much to write home about. It wasn't the larger department store on the other side of town, but for a mom and pop business, it did a pretty good job at stocking what they had needed for that first weekend.

His mother had already moved back into the kitchen, not seeming to notice the topic change. "Would you, dear? There isn't much that we need right away, but if you could get a few of the things…" She trailed off, and Isaac heard her riffling through items in one of the higher cabinets. She must have found the step stool they'd been hunting through boxes for all weekend. "There's a list there on the table." Isaac moved into the eating nook to pick up the mentioned scrap of paper. "I've starred the items I especially need today. Hold on, you need money." There was the sound of feet touching linoleum, followed by Dora walking back around and out of the kitchen, and past him for her purse on the couch.

Dora shoved things aside in her purse, straightening only once she found and held her smaller change purse in hand. She pulled some bills out as she turned back to face him. "Here we go. This should be enough." Isaac held out a hand to accept the money. His mother, however, continued to hold the bills near her bosom. Looking up, Isaac could've groaned. "My little boy… all grown up and going to the store for his mother." Aww, not the Proud Mom Look again. He was just going to the store, not winning a championship!

"Um… Mom?" Isaac waved his hand a little, still waiting to be handed the money. Distraction tactics and quick retreats were always a good idea, or else hugs and kisses were going to be involved soon.

Dora broke out of her trance with a sigh, and handed over the bills with a fond, watery smile. Isaac gave a small smile back before making his retreat to the door. Snatching up his jacket from where he'd draped it over the stair railing, plus the ring of house keys, he was gone and with the door locked behind him in record time.

* * *

Sam Patcher was bored. Not much ever happened in his parents' grocery store, especially since the larger chain store had moved in a few years before. Honestly, though, Patcher didn't much care. As neat as the store had been when he was a kid, it had started to lose its charm by the time he was old enough to work there, and all but depressing by the time he entered college.

The bell over the door chimed as someone entered through the double doors. Sam looked up lazily from the magazine he was reading on the checkout counter to spot the blond teenager he didn't recognize. His father would normally love to lecture Sam on the importance of monitoring unknown customers, especially young ones that may be aspiring kleptos and prone to lifting things, but, honestly, Sam just really didn't care today. He lifted a hand in greeting, not waiting much beyond a nod from the newcomer before directing his attention back to his magazine.

Sometime later, Sam yawned and scratched at the pale stubble on his chin. His mother liked to nag that he needed to shave away his attempts at facial hair, but she liked to nag about a lot of things. For example, his spiked yellow hair. He wasn't sure if it was the part about the hair being spiked, or the part about having dyed the hair unnaturally yellow. Maybe it was the streak of blue on the left. What could he say? He was in college, now. He could allow himself to go through some phases. Yellow hair and a randomly colored streak and a goatee were his current one.

It was in lowering his hand to turn the page that he realized someone was standing nearby. Glancing up again, he eyed the unknown kid from before. The guy was poking at the potted plant at the end of the counter. Sam's mom had put it there for decoration at some point maybe a week or two earlier, before she and everyone else had promptly forgotten to occasionally water the damn thing. It had at least looked sorta cool when it was a leafy ball at the top of some twiggy looking trunk, or whatever it was called. Nowadays, it wasn't uncommon for Sam to need to brush away the tiny dead leaves that would get mixed in with a customer's shopping during checkout.

"You break it, you buy it," he grumbled, feeling annoyed at the kid. Probably a high schooler, from the looks of the guy. The kid jumped in surprise and straightened. If Sam weren't so bored and annoyed, he might have bothered to laugh at the deer in headlights look the kid gave him. "You're new."

The kid let out a breath in his own annoyance. "So I hear." He set his shopping on the counter, and dug into his pocket as Sam started to ring up the items.

"You from Vault?"

"Nope. Tolbi. Just moved here."

"This neighborhood?"

A nod.

"Figured. Can't say we get much business aside from people living right around here. Let's see… If you just moved here, then you must be in…"

"Down the street that way. The blue house."

"Oh! Old Man Matthew's place! Yeah, I know the one. Knew the previous owner. So you guys bought it, huh?"

The kid shrugged. "Inherited. He was my grandfather. Father's side. Didn't see him much, though. They were going to sell the house, but then my mom decided to keep it, fix it, and move in after all."

"Huh." Sam finished ringing up the items and read off the total. "Sorry for the loss, then, I guess. He was a pretty cool guy." The kid didn't seem _too_ broken up over it, handing over the payment with just another shrug, but Sam got the feeling he was grateful for the sentiment nonetheless.

Once the kid was gone, Sam propped his elbow back on the counter and resumed his reading. That is, he _tried_ to do that. Another dead leaf had drifted onto the page while he'd been distracted. Brushing it away, he raised his head to glare at the stupid plant that was to blame.

Sam's glare fell.

The dead plant was… not dead? Strange. Sam could've sworn that it was withered and beyond help earlier. He had half a mind to check what sort of plant it was, maybe even look it up online that night. With a shrug, the other half won out, and he went back to reading the article about some excavation plans in the coming year. Maybe the plant was just going through a phase, too.

* * *

"_The heat advisory here in downtown Lalivero is going to continue at its current level of orange, even as we move into early fall. Residents are advised to stay indoors as much as possible. If you must go out, be sure to stay well hydrated. Tune in for this and more on tonight's ten o' clock news."_

* * *

**CHAPTER ONE – END**

* * *

_**Dedicated to PaPa  
January 1929 – May 16, 2013**_

**_Also dedicated to my cousin Laura_**  
**_April 1980 - May 24, 1997  
_**

_**May your stories never end**_

* * *

Welcome to the completely reworked version of my first fan fiction ever. It also just _happens_ to have a launch date that matches the **10th Anniversary of the original**. Almost like I _planned_ it, or something. But wow... Ten years of fan fiction? Wow... Just... Wow. Special thanks goes to Uber Spoonz for reading over this opening chapter for me.

To those who read and followed the original TNK, hello hello and glad to have you back! I still love you guys, you're all awesome, and I hope that TNK:R will meet many an expectation. For those who are new, I hope you will stay for the ride, and that this story doesn't disappoint. You're awesome, I'm sure I'll love you all too, and uh... ignore that old thing behind the curtain, will you? Or don't. Up to you. Just be forewarned that I've had the past ten years to tweak my writing style, and a third game has been added to the GS series since then. This version is currently looking to be double the length, with much more character and story development, and several plot points and twists have been added, edited, or removed entirely.

The first few chapters may have a month in between updates. Sorry, guys. I need to give myself something more of a buffer to work with before I can start having regularly scheduled updates. Recent happenings offline have both slowed my progress, and made me more determined than ever to make this story happen. The ultimate goal is to eventually be able to update once every two to three weeks, so we'll see how that goes.

'Til next time! Laters!


	2. Chapter 2

Since the disclaimer is on the first chapter, I'm not going to be tagging it on again for every chapter. That is, unless something new comes up that needs disclaiming or a warning. Like this chapter, for example. The story begins to earn its T-rating here, courtesy of Sam Patcher and his bad rebellious teen habits. Everyone say, "Thanks, Sam!"

Also, Twinkies. Because the beginning of this chapter was written before Hostess went under.

And final warning, I don't want to say there will be torturous things done later, but there will be... uh... owies. Owies that make me almost wonder if I'm going to need to slap a dark fic label on a few of the chapters to come. We'll see how that goes when we get there, I guess.

On that cheerful note, happy reading!

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**CHAPTER TWO**

* * *

_Two men once had a conversation. They had learned of things not commonly known, and could see the horrible events to which those things would lead. One man had the knowledge, the other the means. The two men tasked themselves with preventing these horrors from ever occurring. Together, they worked to devise a plan._

_A story was set in motion._

* * *

By the second week following his arrival at Vale High, Isaac was slowly settling into his new surroundings. Although, he wasn't entirely sure yet what to make of the group of four that insisted on being a part of those surroundings. At least they didn't seem to mind that he still turned down their offers to hang out. He was grateful for it, if not a little skeptical. He hadn't exactly gotten along well with anyone at his previous high school.

Actually, forget getting along well. Isaac hadn't gotten along with anyone in any way, shape, or form! It wasn't that he went out of his way to be antisocial. As far as Isaac was concerned, the antisocial part came as a result of everyone else being antisocial towards _him_ first. He didn't want to sound childish, but… Honestly? They started it.

"Is that…"

"Yep."

The day so far had been fairly run of the mill. It wasn't until the walk to lunch that Isaac noticed how excited Garet had suddenly become. Something about the day's menu, but the taller teen refused to say what.

"But it's…"

"Yep."

These people were surely trying to kill him.

"Garet." Isaac turned his look of pure seriousness at the redhead. "Are you telling me that you were getting this excited over _mystery meat_?"

If one were to go by the expression on Garet's face, it could probably be assumed that Isaac had just gravely insulted every member of Garet's ancestry, on top of kicking a puppy or two.

Felix's muttering of "Now you've done it" from ahead of them in line didn't reassure him.

Garet finally stopped his gaping. "_This_, Isaac, is no mystery meat. _This_… is meat loaf." Isaac wasn't buying it. "Just try it. I swear to you, it's nothing like whatever garbage they fed you back in Tolbi."

Isaac crooked a skeptic brow. He leaned forward to see around Garet to where Felix was watching with barely suppressed amusement. Felix just shrugged. "Small town," he reasoned. "It's about as close to home-cooked as you'll ever get without a lunchbox."

It was, Isaac found, oddly believable. He had noticed that the school meals so far had been of a higher caliber than what he had been used to in the city. Some days weren't so great, such as when the cheeseburger buns were made soggy by the steam used to keep the serving trays warmed. In any case, he hadn't really thought about it beyond noticing that something was indeed better on most days.

The food selection today, now that he was thinking about it, looked almost on par with the meals his grandmother used to make. Before him was a spread of mashed potatoes and gravy, cooked vegetables, the obligatory pizza, and, of course, two perfectly shaped and colored meat loafs. There were two different fruit cobbler options available for dessert. How had Isaac not noticed such a simple thing as the quality of cafeteria food sooner? Chalking it up to having too many other things on his mind to really pay attention to what went on his plate, he started loading his tray with his share.

Felix was the first to pay for his meal and exit the line, saying he'd see them at the table. Garet paid for his next, and stood just outside the open doorway that divided the food line from the tables. When Isaac joined him again, Garet had remembered there was something he wanted from the vending machine and headed in that direction. Isaac turned away and started towards where the group was usually seated.

Unfortunately, he turned and stepped right into someone else. His brain was allowed those few split seconds to consider what was about to happen. It came to two conclusions. First, it concluded that Time had definitely slowed down once there was nothing Isaac could do to stop the collision. It also concluded that Time was a jerk. As Isaac's tray connected with the front of the person's shirt, the edge tipped down and forward. The plate and all of the contents—mashed potatoes, gravy, meat loaf, ketchup, and all—were sent sliding down the front of the other person's shirt and pants, and ended with a resounding "splat" as it ended on the person's shoes. Some of the gravy even splashed and clung to the hem of Isaac's jeans. The only thing to stay on the tray was a single paper napkin.

The immediate surrounding area went silent.

All Isaac could do was stare down at the spilled mess, his mouth and eyes opened wide in horror. "I-I… I am so, _so_ sorry. I-!" He looked up and froze. Looking up had definitely made it that much worse. Looking up meant making eye contact with the other person…

Who was none other than Alex Azul.

Isaac's eyes bugged out even more than before. Some inappropriate words may have also run through Isaac's head in that moment.

At first, Alex looked just as shocked as Isaac. He was quickly coming out of that stupor, though, and looked up from the disaster to lock eyes with the culprit. Isaac couldn't bring himself to so much as gulp properly as the shock drained from Alex's face and was replaced with cold rage. He only knew Alex in passing so far, and based on what he knew…

Not good. This was definitely not good. Not good at all.

In an instant, a hand was roughly gripping the front of Isaac's shirt. "The _Hel_ is your problem, New Kid?" the taller teen hissed through grit teeth. Isaac repeated his stuttered apologies, but Alex wouldn't hear it. "You think that just because you come from big bad Tolbi you get to pull whatever stunts you'd like?"

"Idiot." Isaac's eyes darted to the source of the new voice to Alex's left, and realized just how much worse this was quickly becoming. Karst Ficher, a petite girl with brown eyes and dark pink hair cut into a bob, placed her hands on her hips. "Acting like he's something special." On the other side of their bully ringleader, Agatio Drake stood with his arms crossed and nodded. Of the trio, Agatio was undoubtedly the muscle of the group, as well as the tallest. He glared down at Isaac through brown eyes very similar to Karst's.

"L-Look. I didn't mean to. It was an accident. Honest!" Where in the name of Sol were the teachers?!

Alex opened his mouth to say something else, but was stopped when a hand suddenly came out of nowhere to grip the offending wrist. A much calmer voice spoke. "That's enough, Alex." Felix! Isaac's insides were battling between relief and more terror. What if Alex got into a fight now with Felix? It'd be Isaac's fault for starting this whole mess in the first place!

Felix, on the other hand, seemed completely unconcerned with any possibilities of a cafeteria fight. He met Alex head on in a silent staring contest, neither showing any signs of planning to back down from the challenge. At last, Isaac felt the grip by his neck ease. "By all means," the bully spoke with mockingly sweet politeness. Felix didn't release his hold until Alex opened his own hand with fingers splayed wide, releasing his earlier target. Even then, the brunette stayed right by Isaac's side. "Wouldn't want to cause a scene, of course. Come on." With that final command to the two beside him, Alex cast Isaac one last glare. He snatched the lone surviving napkin from Isaac's tray with a disgusted sneer and made some futile swipes at the front of his clothes as he moved on. Karst and Agatio sent Isaac their own intimidating glares before following their leader.

It wasn't until the trio had exited the doors leading back to the main building that Isaac let out a long, relieved breath. His heart felt like it could start working properly again, his stomach was in its right place, and whatever lump had decided to form in his throat eased. "Thanks." Felix nodded with a grunt of acknowledgment.

"Sol, I hate that guy." Isaac turned at yet another voice making itself known. Garet stood a few steps away, holding both his and Felix's trays. It was the first time Isaac had seen the other teen anywhere close to being angry at another person. Garet was just too cheerful and fun-loving for that, yet here they were. Garet stopped glaring at the closed doors and turned his attention to Isaac. "You okay there, Isaac?"

Isaac nodded. "Yeah. I think so. Um… Thanks… for that." To Felix, he asked, "What were you even doing over here still?" As far as Isaac was aware, the line between the vending machines and their table didn't double back to the checkout door.

Felix flipped a plastic wrapped mini loaf of golden breading in one hand. "Twinkie for Jenna. She forgot her change." The "again" went unsaid. "Don't worry about Alex. Let's just get to the table." He took his tray from Garet and started walking away. Isaac looked to Garet, who simply shrugged.

Looking down, Isaac heaved a defeated sigh at his tray and lost meal. "So much for the meat loaf test." A thin stream of milk had worked its way from the now leaky carton and into the mix.

Someone cleared their throat. "Excuse me?" Turning to see, Isaac recognized the speaker as a blonde haired, short freshman he had passed a few times in the hall while going to Literature. The younger teen was small for the age group, and Isaac had wondered at least once if the boy had skipped some grades. That was about as much thought as Isaac had ever spared the kid. But that was before the freshman ever talked to him. "One of the teachers already left to track down the janitor. You can use these in the meantime." He lifted a set of folded yellow signs that read "wet floor" in bold, capital letters.

After both signs were propped open and warning people of the spilled lunch, the two juniors thanked the freshman before leaving for their usual table. Isaac dropped his emptied tray and plate on the collection rack as he passed, and sat heavily beside Garet on the bench.

Jenna gave the two of them and her brother an odd look. She finished chewing the bite she had taken from the Twinkie and swallowed. "Did I miss something?"

Felix responded with a single word. "Alex."

A knowing look dawned on her face. "Ohhhhh." She set down her dessert. "Well, he wasted no time getting jealous, did he?" When Isaac asked what she meant, she almost laughed. "Seriously? Isaac, look around you." Isaac looked at his group of friends. "No, no, no. I mean, look around the cafeteria. What can you tell me about the people?"

Confused, Isaac sat up to look around at the crowd at large. Nothing really stood out to him. Sure, he'd catch the fleeting look of people trying to not be caught staring, but that was normal. Right?

Jenna let out an exasperated sigh and shook her head at the table. "Men." She gave Isaac a deadpanned look. "Alex is all about being the center of attention. He likes the limelight. What he doesn't like is when other people steal that limelight."

"But, I don't—"

"Silence." Isaac instantly shut up. "Point is, you're new. That makes you as good as shiny. Alex has been in this school system with us since we were kids. He's dull. And people will always notice shiny before they notice dull."

That… oddly made sense, Isaac would have to admit. "But I thought areas like this were getting a lot more new residents. How could I be the only new thing for people to look at?"

It was Mia who answered that one. "More people are moving to places like Vault than Vale, and those that do move here are either older and retiring, or younger couples with no kids that are high school age. A lot are even just college students in Vault who can't afford the housing costs there."

"Which brings us back to you being new and shiny," Jenna finished proudly. "See what we mean yet?"

Isaac nodded slowly, not entirely certain it was the right action to make. "I… think so? So really, there's nothing I can do to _not_ steal the limelight, huh?"

Jenna nodded. "You got it. Wouldn't surprise me if a bunch of the girls had already started writing fanfics about you, even. You seem like the typical uke character they like to fantasize over."

"But for Alex to get so mad at me over it—Wait, what was that?"

"Oh, nothing. My, look at the time. I need to stop by my locker. Just ignore the Alex issue, Isaac. He'll get over it. Bye!"

"Wha-wait! Jenna? _Jenna_!"

* * *

Maybe there was an upside to knowing the strange group. For one thing, the conversation quickly changed to a different subject (after Garet was done drawing more attention to them with his almost howling laughter). For another, Isaac would have gone hungry if he were still at Tolbi High. Jenna may have made a quick escape, but the remaining trio was more than willing to shove their trays to the middle and share a collective meal. Mia even managed to find some guy at another table who wasn't interested in his pint carton of milk.

All in all, maybe the day wasn't going to be such a loss, after all.

It was when he was dumping the tray with a stack of wrappers and empty cartons that he noticed the splotches still on his pant legs and shoes. "Aw man, and it's ketchup, too," Garet sympathized when Isaac mentioned it. "That's the worst." Checking for a clock revealed that Isaac still had some time to spare before class resumed. He could stop by one of the bathrooms and make an attempt at getting rid of what would make for a nightmare stain later.

In retrospect, going out on his own probably wasn't his brightest idea for the day. He _had _just dumped an entire lunch tray on the one guy in Vale High who had taken an instant dislike to the new student. But Isaac didn't think about it, and neither did anyone else in the group.

The bathroom located on the back hallway was empty when Isaac entered. Good. That meant there was no one there to laugh at him. Wetting a paper towel, he crouched in front of the sink, targeted a stain near the bottom hem of his right leg, and commenced the scrubbing. There wasn't much else to do aside from thinking about what had happened. It was frustrating. He'd been doing so well—so well!—and he might as well have just tossed all that effort out the window. Alex was always glaring at him when they passed on the stairs. Now Isaac had just handed the guy a silver platter with reason to hate him even more, maybe to even start actively bullying him.

Isaac shook his head, and scrubbed harder. The paper was shredding against the rough jeans. Stupid stains. Stupid bullies. Stupid school. Stupid, stupid, stupid—

"You know," Isaac's head snapped up, startled by someone speaking. "If looks could clean, I'd never have to do laundry duty again."

Isaac was too startled at first by the sudden arrival, that it took him a moment to process who was speaking. When he finally did, he mentally flailed and made a failed attempt to sputter out some coherent response while gaping in shock. Jenna simply grinned back wickedly from where her head was poked around the brick wall.

Jenna was in the boys bathroom.

JENNA. was in. the BOYS. _BATHROOM_.

So long to any lingering sanity in the world.

Jenna chuckled and stepped the rest of the way into the restroom proper. "Oh, relax. Not like anyone else is in here." As if on cue, the door squeaked open behind her. The blonde haired freshman from earlier halted midway into his third step. He blinked dumbly at a girl in the bathroom… looked at Isaac still crouched and probably looking absolutely horrified… looked at Jenna who was sending him a dark glare, just _daring_ the kid to say anything…

…and without a single peep, the freshman reversed his steps and backed out and safely away into the hallway.

Isaac had just enough brain functionality left to feel sorry for the poor kid.

Jenna smiled as if none of that had just happened. Or maybe it was in satisfied triumph. "Here. You're not going to get anything done if you're only glaring at it." She grabbed another set of paper towels and ran some water.

The change seemed to shock Isaac back out of his, well, shock. "I wasn't glaring!" he defended weakly.

"Uh huh. Right." Jenna crouched to his side, and handed him one of the towels. She hadn't wrung out as much water as Isaac had done, and the coarse brown paper held a blue tint from the added hand soap.

A pressure on his foot called his attention back to the crazy girl next to him. Jenna scrubbed lightly at a splotch on his sneaker, having much better luck at removing all traces. "I'm not cleaning your pants for you, if that's what you're thinking," she informed, seeming to notice the confused hesitation without needing to look up.

Isaac felt his face heating up, and quickly directed his attention back to cleaning the stain from before. He used a lot more care this time.

The two worked that way in silence for a moment, moving from one smudge to the next. They were almost done when Jenna spoke again.

"Don't let Alex or those other two get to you, Isaac. They aren't worth it."

Isaac almost scoffed. "Hard to do when they keep showing up at the worst times." This may have been his first solid run-in with the trio, but he'd passed them enough times in the past two weeks to know they never liked him.

Jenna made a humming sound in thought. "Still, Alex isn't the one to be concerned about. It's Karst and Agatio that are the real trouble. It's like… I dunno. Dealing with dogs, or something. Alex is the bark, but those two are the bite you don't see coming."

That part confused him. "I thought Alex was their leader?"

"That's what they act like, don't they? But no. Karst and Agatio were a short-tempered pair long before Alex teamed up with them. At least back then, if you ticked off one, you knew to expect payback pretty soon. And at least it was straightforward. But Alex… Well, he calculates. Sometimes, they won't retaliate at all, because it isn't an advantage to do so when they can hold it over a person's head instead."

"That's… not very reassuring."

"I doubt they'll do anything to get back at you for today. It was Felix who stepped in, right?" Isaac nodded, and Jenna mirrored the motion. "Then yeah, you'll be fine."

Isaac wanted to ask more, but Jenna turned her attention back to his shoes. He decided against it.

* * *

It was during his third week when Isaac finally took up one of his new friends' after school offers.

Friends… He could almost get used to that way of thinking.

It had been raining off and on since first period, and Garet offered during Biology to give Isaac a ride home. With how old the streets and drainage systems were, Isaac was just asking to get splashed by cars if he walked. "And you look like you're about ready to catch the latest flu bug going around," Garet added as extra prodding. There was a loud clap of thunder in the distance about three seconds before Isaac accepted the offer. And that was how Isaac found himself that afternoon in the passenger seat of Garet's beat up, old, rust bucket of a pickup truck.

The rain had let up to a light drizzle, barely little more than a mist. Isaac was still grateful for the ride, though, even if it did feel like some strange anomaly in his typical life. The Patchers' convenience store had just come into view when Garet remembered something. Apparently, Vale was a prime location for several tree farms, and, as Isaac Wood was informed by one Garet Jerra, Patcher's Place was one of the few stores that acted as a local retailer for selling a share of the crops. Garet also informed that he had promised his little brother that he would pick out a tree for their house, but so far had failed in getting around to it.

And that was how Garet found himself that afternoon being instructed to find a parking spot. Apparently—as Garet learned—Isaac was a fan of trees.

Which Garet found to be funny, because while he was browsing through the tree saplings, he noticed that Isaac stayed over by the front of the store. Oh well. He _had_ been the one to point out Isaac looked like he was getting sick, after all.

Isaac stuffed his hands into his pockets and looked upwards. The sky had lightened a good amount since earlier that day. If he was guessing right, the rain would be done completely within another hour.

"Back already? Hope you're not just going to loiter around." Isaac turned his head to the right where Sam's torso hovered. The college student was leaning with one forearm along the front door's crossbar, supporting his weight while the other hand gripped the solid door frame. Tied around his waist, Isaac could just barely see a black half apron.

"Not today. Just waiting on someone." He tipped his forehead to indicate Garet. Sam actually looked mildly impressed at that answer.

"A Jerra, huh?" he asked as he joined Isaac along the wall and fished a hand into a large pocket on his apron. "You sure didn't waste any time getting in with that crowd, did ya?" His search yielded one opened pack of cigarettes. He switched to the other pocket and continued the hunt. A young couple walked up and started checking out the tree selection.

Isaac frowned, still watching Garet wander aimlessly through the miniature orchard. Yeah, that guy definitely had no clue what to look for. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Sam shrugged. "Nothing, really. But if you had to pick one to be buddies with, Garet's one of the better choices to go with. Aha!" Sam raised his grand prize—a green, see-through lighter—to the light. Isaac could easily see that the liquid on the inside was low, but that didn't deter Sam at all as he dug into the cigarette box. "Local ruling families aside," Sam completely missed the look of confusion that was Isaac's face, "how's life been treating you? School going okay?"

Isaac stared uncertainly at the baffling person beside him. Sam was clearly unfazed by this, and proceeded with lighting up his chosen cigarette. At a loss of what else to do, Isaac talked.

He told Sam what classes he was taking, the older teen occasionally cutting in with his own history at the high school and with each teacher. He told Sam about how he was getting along with most of the people he had met, and how it was going so much better than in Tolbi. Sam pointed out that sometimes, new beginnings were the best thing a person could ask for. He told Sam about how there was this bully named Alex, and an underling duo named Karst and Agatio. Sam told him to not let them push him around. Most importantly, he told Sam about having met people that he guessed could be considered as "friends." Sam nodded thoughtfully and took a long drag from his cigarette. He'd told Isaac minutes ago to quit looking at the "No Smoking" sign on the wall behind their heads.

"Sounds like you're not doing half bad, kid." Isaac tried to shrug off the comment, not really getting why Sam would sound so impressed. "No, no, I mean it. Listen," he waved his hand with the cigarette between the fingers, causing the smoke to waft into Isaac's face. Isaac coughed and waved the smoke away. "You just moved from the big city, where no one knows anybody, to a small town, where everyone knows everybody. You're new and shiny and in a place that doesn't often see such a thing." Isaac mumbled something about having heard that somewhere before, but Sam kept going.

"Not everyone is able to handle that as well as you have. Hel," he shook his head and took another long inhale, followed by a long, smoky exhale, "sometimes, not even the people born into it can handle it as well." He chuckled humorlessly at his own insight, but then his gaze turned serious, and he pinned it on Isaac. "You have something really good going on here. Don't go screwing it up."

Isaac wasn't sure what exactly to make of that. In the end, he could only nod and say that he'd try. Sam nodded to himself, seeming to be satisfied with that answer. They stood in silence for another moment longer. Finally, Sam let out a long, suffering sigh. "Think he has any idea what he's doing?"

Isaac, who had been studying the absolutely _fascinating_ ground, followed his line of sight to where Garet was still humming and hawing over the choices and rereading the info tags. "Probably not a clue."

"Think you're any better at it?"

The response was delayed. "You could say that."

"Any plans on doing it for him?" The young couple from before had been talking amongst themselves for the last minute or two. Now they seemed to come to some sort of agreement, and with a wave to Sam, they walked away. Sam smiled cheerily and returned the wave with the smoke-free hand. The smile failed to reach his voice, though, which was plain old bored. "Did I tell you I'm only one tree away from quota?"

Isaac looked incredulous. "You have a quota?"

Sam shrugged. "Probably not. But I could use something to get my mom off my back tonight." Isaac was about to ask, but then he noted Sam's goatee. He knew something had been different from last time. Sometime in the last three days, Sam's goatee had been dyed a vibrant green. Isaac barely suppressed a sigh or a laugh. He honestly wasn't sure which was more fitting.

"I'll see what I can do."

Sam smirked. "Good man."

It didn't take much navigating at all to reach Garet in the sea of twigs. The redhead was clearly out of his league when it came to gardening decisions. One glance at the info tag being studied told Isaac that Garet was about to resort to the method of paying more in hopes that the quality might match. Well, Isaac couldn't just stand back and let that happen, now could he?

"Hey, Garet. Check out this one." Garet turned his attention around to Isaac, and frowned at the pathetic thing being indicated. It was shorter than most of the other saplings, maybe three feet tall at most, with twiggy limbs that were almost entirely bare. The dull gray of the wood didn't do anything to reassure him, either.

"I dunno, Isaac… It looks like the only journey it's going to get is to a dumpster."

Isaac wavered between what response to give. "Just trust me on this, okay? It just hasn't been getting watered enough, and was probably left in the shade behind all the other trees for too long." He motioned at the rest of the saplings at large.

Garet continued to frown, but the cause had switched to concern for the blonde before him. "Isaac, are you okay? You look about ready to topple over." Not to mention his breathing had begun to sound… difficult? Was that the right word for it? It definitely wasn't casual breathing, that was for sure.

"It's allergies. Don't worry about it. So? You going to get this one?"

Garet still wasn't completely convinced, but he caved regardless. Anything to get Isaac on out of there so he could quit sounding like a marathon runner trying to keep quiet in a serious meeting. "Alright, if you're so sure. Patcher! Hey! Patcher!"

Isaac grinned at the indignant shout from behind him. "Wh- _Patcher_?! The _Hel_ says you get to call me that, _Jerra_?"

Garet smirked and folded his arms as he shouted back at the challenge. "Oh come on! It's your name, isn't it?"

"Maybe when I'm what society calls a 'responsible adult,' yeah."

"Well, hurry up! I'd like to buy this thing within the next thirty years, thanks."

With the help of the bickering storekeeper, the tree was easily loaded and secured in the back of the Rust Bucket on Wheels. Sam ("Damn it, Jerra, quit calling me Patcher!") untied the price tag before climbing back down from the truck bed. He mumbled something about Isaac lying about being better, and disappeared into the store with Garet to ring up the charge.

Minutes later, the high schoolers were rolling through the parking lot, Garet steering the old truck out to the road. "You know what's really crazy?" Isaac looked to the driver's side, waiting for Garet to continue. "That wasn't even the hardest part. Now I have to figure out how exactly I'm supposed to plant this crazy thing."

Ah, that made sense. If Garet had that much trouble just deciding on what to buy, Isaac didn't even want to think about how long Garet would stall on properly putting the poor sapling into the ground. "I can help you," Isaac offered before he could think otherwise. Garet looked at him, as though he were sizing Isaac up on whether or not Isaac would really be able to do all that much.

"You sure?" Isaac nodded, trying to not look offended by Garet's doubt. "Today work for you?" Isaac nodded again. Garet grinned and edged the old vehicle out into the lane, driving the opposite direction from Isaac's house. "No take backs."

* * *

When the Jerra house came into view, Isaac found himself wishing he could take it back. Correction: when the Jerra _mansion_, in Isaac's opinion, came into view, and Garet had turned through a break in the wall of finely pruned hedges onto the immaculate, white gravel driveway, which looped in front of the house in a perfect circle with tangents allowing access around the sides, Isaac couldn't help but feel _entirely_ out of place.

It was definitely an older house. The roof was in good repair and the white exterior paint looked new, but the fanciful style of the woodwork around the front and the red brick chimney on the side where things Isaac had only ever seen in movies that took place during his grandparents' time.

"Careful, pal. You're going to catch flies if your mouth hangs open like that." Garet's comment and snicker snapped Isaac back to his senses.

"But- But it's _huge_!"

Garet laughed loudly at that. "Pffft! As if. Maybe by Vale standards, yeah, but this is nothing compared to the one down in Vault." He cringed at realizing that what he'd just said really didn't help his case at all. "All right, all right, so it's a big house. But it isn't all that big a deal. The Vault house belongs to my grandparents. They gave this one to my dad when he married."

"Just how big is this one, then?" Isaac stared at the impressive structure through the dusty windows of the truck.

Garet shrugged, focusing on maneuvering his truck along the driveway and around the left side of the house. A rickety shed of a single car garage was tucked away there in the shadow of the house, backed up as far as it could go against a tall, white picket fence. "Five—no, wait, six bedrooms. There's another room that's an office, plus a couple bathrooms. It's built into a hill, so it's really three floors, not just the two you see from the front. The back yard is built up so you can use walkways from the bottom two floors." Stopping the truck in front of the garage, he threw it into park and stopped the engine. "We can carry the tree in through the gate right there," he pointed to a spot in the fence, but Isaac couldn't see any difference between that spot and the rest of the fence. That… was a very well crafted fence.

In fact, it was almost _too_ well crafted. In order to open the gate, they needed to pass through the interior of the house, go into the (very impressive) backyard garden, and unlock the gate from the inside. Garet pointed out where the tree would be planted as they passed. The garden itself sloped downward from the house. Another white fence and a detached three car garage facing a wide back alley lined the opposite end.

Before long, the tree had been unloaded, and a decent sized hole had been dug. They were almost ready to move the tree the two feet to the hole when someone could be heard calling Garet from inside. Garet checked his watch. "Oh man, that time already? Come on, you can meet my little brother." Dusting his hands off on his jeans, the redhead led the way to the second floor (Ground floor? Main entry floor? Isaac was never going to wrap his mind around this layout.) sliding double glass doors.

As soon as he was inside, Garet threw his arms in the air with a long, excitable, "Heeeeeeey!" In the next second, a small boy who couldn't be older than seven or eight and with a multicolored backpack was barreling across the living room, and Garet lowered to one knee so the kid could latch onto him on contact. The little boy received a bear hug in return, and giggled when his own red hair was ruffled by Garet's larger hand when they pulled apart.

"School okay?"

"Yeah!"

Garet grinned and gave a double thumbs up. "Excellent. Aaron, I've got someone to introduce you to." Standing up, Garet maneuvered around so he stood behind the boy with his hands on the small shoulders. "Aaron, this is my friend from school, Isaac. Isaac, this is my baby rugrat brother, Aaron."

Aaron beamed up at Isaac with bright, brown eyes. Isaac couldn't help it. There was just no way possible to not return a smile like that. "Hello." Isaac gave a half-committed wave.

"Hi!" Aaron chirped back. He raised both hands to grip the thumbs on his shoulders, and leaned back to look at his big brother upside down. "Garet, my shows are about to start," he stated, suddenly making it sound like a very serious thing was soon to happen.

"Oh! Well," Garet answered with wide eyes and shock. He shifted his grip to the narrow wrists and swung Aaron around to face the stairs. "Can't have you missing that, can we?" Aaron didn't need anymore prompting than that. The light nudge to his backpack was just extra as he ran with a childish bounce for the staircase leading up to the bedrooms. "Oh, hey!" Garet called after him, feigning insult. "Forgetting something?"

Aaron paused five steps up with both hands on the rail and a face of innocent curiosity. Garet tilted his head in a jabbing motion toward Isaac. The kid's face lit up in understanding. "Oh, right. It was nice to meet you, Isaac!" Not waiting to confirm anything, Aaron took off and disappeared upstairs. Now _that_ was a kid on a mission!

Garet chuckled and turned back to Isaac. "Sorry. He's absolutely obsessed with this one show that starts in a few minutes."

Isaac shook his head, still unable to help the smile on his own face. "It's alright. Who isn't like that at some point?"

"Yeah, really." Just then, the phone decided to ring, cutting off the conversation. "Sorry, I'd better get that." Isaac just nodded in response before Garet was moving into the kitchen. As the ringing stopped and Garet picked up his half of the conversation, the blonde looked around the room from where he stood.

"Yeah, he just got home." Everything was so neat and tidy. Even the pale carpet looked as though it was cleaned on a regular basis. "What? No. Because he has class that day, that's why." All of the furniture had probably been selected to match. If Isaac didn't know two of the people living there, he almost wouldn't be able to believe that two school kids lived there. "No, ma'am… Yes ma'am… No, I have school that day, too." There was a frustrated pause. "Oh, I dunno, maybe because I'm in _high school_? Sounds like a pretty good reason to me."

From the sounds of it, Garet was going to be a few minutes. Isaac mentally shrugged. He might as well keep busy, right? With that thought in mind, he stepped back outside.

* * *

Garet inwardly groaned as he eyed the clock. Seven minutes already on the phone? This was getting ridiculous. "Look, Mom, can I call you back later? I really do have some things to take care of here."

"What about Kay? Have you talked to her yet today?"

"Mom."

"It's just that she left me this message earlier asking about some dress she saw somewhere. I know I went over this with you kids before."

"...Mom."

"We have our own tailors down in Vault for a reason. She can't just walk into whatever chain store she passes and pick up the first thing to catch her eye. She'll _never_ pass the interview next week if she's wearing—oh, what's the brand these days?"

Garet bit back his own irritation. Mrs. Jerra could go on like this for hours if she got on a real roll. He rolled his eyes skyward in hopes for more patience. Ceiling-ward? That'd be a funny word. Oh hey, how'd that spot get up there—?

He was interrupted from his thoughts by the sound of the sliding door opening and closing. A few seconds later, Isaac appeared in the open entry to the kitchen. "Hey, I need to get on home," he informed quietly. "Oh, and I finished planting the tree. It's not raining anymore, so I watered it with a pail you had out there. It should start perking up soon enough."

Garet turned the phone so the transmitter was against his shoulder. "Thanks, pal. Sorry about..." he waved his free hand at the phone against his ear, his mother still chattering on about who knew what, "this." He gave an apologetic smile. "You sure you're okay for getting home?"

Isaac nodded quickly. "Yeah. Feeling much better now. Must've been the smoke from Sam, you know?" Oh yeah, Garet did know. Sam was... something else. There was something about Isaac's assurance that was edgy, but Garet was too distracted to think anything of it. Their farewells said, Isaac let himself out through the front door, and Garet returned to the daunting task of acting as a mute sounding board for his mother.

Another fifteen minutes rolled by, and all the while Garet was adding extra underlining to "cordless phone" on the shopping list. Seriously, why did they not have that already? At least he hadn't been entirely unproductive. When Aaron came bounding in after the end of his show, Garet had a snack plate ready and waiting to nudge forward. He still couldn't get in one word edgewise with their mother, so finally he just insisted that he really, _really_ needed to go, and hung up. He'd probably get an earful for that later, but right then he just couldn't bring himself to care. Aaron needed to get started on homework, and Garet needed to at least make some sort of effort on his own assignments. Food and drinks in hand, the two brothers moved out of the kitchen and up the stairs. Neither of them thought to look outside to where the newest addition to their garden had been planted.

* * *

It wasn't until much later that night when anyone would think to check. Even then, it was more or less an accidental sighting. Like many small kids tended to do, Aaron had awoken to a dire need for a glass of water. Peeking into Garet's room found the teen sprawled across the top of his bed covers. A thick textbook lay open on his stomach, and Aaron barely resisted the urge to go see what the pictures inside it were.

Deciding to let his big brother sleep, Aaron shuffled through the hall and down the steps. It wasn't all that hard, really. A nightlight at the bottom gave enough lighting for Aaron to not trip on his way down, and another in the kitchen led him safely to his goal.

On the return trip, Aaron just happened to turn enough to the right to spot the back doors. Oh, yeah! Garet had said he'd finally picked a tree out for them, hadn't he? Mindful not to trip on his baggy cartoon PJ bottoms or spill any water, Aaron shuffled closer to the glass. And there it was! And wow, Garet had really outdone himself!

It must've been the nicest tree on the store lot. The branches were lined with green leaves, and several spots were already dotted with budding flowers. The trunk was still narrow, but it had to be standing at five feet tall, with bark that was what Aaron assumed was a healthy reddish brown. But it was night out and the back porch light could only show so much. In any case, it was a good tree, and Aaron had no complaints.

Aaron grinned happily as he returned to bed. He had the best big bro _ever_!

* * *

"_In today's headlines, the CEO of L&B Enterprises announced the production of a new health energy drink. At a press release earlier today, claims were made that this drink will boost mental and physical stamina, without any of the medical concerns associated with energy drinks already on the market. While these claims have been called into question by multiple groups, food safety officials have reported that nothing can be found to suggest any evidence against the claims. The drink is expected to hit the shelves in Tolbi for a trial-run by the end of next month."_

* * *

**CHAPTER TWO - END**

* * *

Can I just say how happy I am that Patcher was introduced in DD? XD This chapter made me realize how badly I need to familiarize myself with more architectural terms. Because Garet's house? Yeah, kinda hard to describe something as a classic Southern U.S. style when it's a world that doesn't _have_ a Southern U.S to compare.

Thank you so much for the reviews, faves, and follows! Chapter Three will be up in another three or four weeks. If it isn't up by July 18th, it means I've left for a friend's wedding, and either forgot to upload or didn't finish in time. In either case, I'll have it up as soon as I can after the return road trip.

Laters!


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer addendum: I don't own Oreo cookies. Jenna's just trying to get me into trouble again.

* * *

**CHAPTER THREE**

* * *

_There once was a girl who was praised for her skills, and loved for her kindness. One day, a tragedy struck the home of the girl. Many died, and many fled. The girl was sent away to grow up in safety and good health. However, the girl looked different from the other children. She was treated differently because of this, and was often alone. Then one day, she met other children who were different. The girl and the children quickly became friends, and at last the girl was not alone. _

_Her story was only beginning._

* * *

The following day was Wednesday, and for the most part, it began much like the previous two. The differences started when Isaac walked into his math class. Or, more accurately, it began after he sat down at his desk.

He exchanged the usual morning greeting with Felix, which was more or less an exchange of nods and, "Morning." Garet, however, seemed reluctant to look away from whatever he was reading in his textbook.

Isaac tried to initiate the greeting, anyway. "Morning, Garet."

There was a pause. Garet's jaw shifted in a way that suggested he was biting the inside of his bottom lip. Finally, he turned his head barely enough to see Isaac. "Morning." He didn't smile or offer any of his usual gripes about having to be awake before noon. He just said the one word, and turned his attention back to the textbook.

Isaac stopped digging into his backpack and stared at the redhead. Something about the tone was off. It was normal for Garet to express his dislike of early mornings, but… that almost sounded like the contempt was directed at _Isaac_. When Garet didn't say or do anything else, Isaac turned around to look to Felix. Maybe he'd know what was up?

Felix just shrugged at the unasked question. Something was indeed going on, but not even Felix would be able to shed any light on it this time. But Isaac reasoned that at least Felix didn't seem to be concerned by the change. Maybe it was something that happened from time to time and nothing to worry about.

Right?

* * *

"How'd you do it?"

Isaac raised his head from the combination dial on his locker. "Do what?"

After not talking to him for all of math, Garet clearly wasn't in any mood to play games. "The _tree_, Isaac. What, did you just… _switch it out_ during the night and think I wouldn't notice it? You know, I may not have the most intelligent reputation, but I'm not clueless."

Isaac could only stare at him. This was completely foreign territory. Not just the confrontation itself, but Garet sounded downright angry and disgusted. He looked the part, too! Anyone else and maybe Isaac would believe it, but… _Garet_? Isaac took a breath, and finished opening his locker. "I don't know what you're talking about Garet. I told you it would perk up overnight. Can't get mad at me if that's exactly what it did."

"Don't-!" Garet cut himself off with a shake of his head. He was chewing on the inside of his lip again. Glancing over the redhead's shoulder, Isaac spotted some girls who had look over at them. Realizing they were caught, the girls hesitated a few seconds before moving along. Isaac turned his attention back to Garet.

When he finally reigned himself in enough to speak again, Garet had dropped his voice so it was just between the two of them. "Don't play that with me. The tree I bought, per _your_ instructions, was a scraggly thing that wouldn't be worth the effort to even turn it into mulch. Fine. I get it. If it lives, I save a few bucks. If it dies, I have the rest of the season to buy a new one. Whatever. Next thing I know, I've got the gardener outside congratulating me this morning on a 'fine' choice."

Even the air quotes were loaded with angry sarcasm. Isaac had subconsciously been leaning away as Garet ranted, and it was only as Garet deflated several notches at the pause that something about this started to click for Isaac. The taller teen was mad, sure, but… there was something else to it that Isaac couldn't put his finger on. Garet, plain and simple, wasn't an angry guy. Isaac had only known him for three weeks, and already he knew that much for certain. There had to be more going on to it.

"I told you," Isaac repeated, trying to slowly and calmly test the waters. "It just needed some water and to be out of the shadow of the other trees. Dogwoods are hardy things. They respond well when cared for right."

Garet shook his head, but he was looking down. Isaac realized they hadn't made eye contact since Garet had first walked up. "No. Not by this much." They fell silent for a long moment. Garet visibly deflated as the time ticked past. "Alright," he finally started. His temper was a lot more subdued by then. "Fine. If you swear you didn't do it…" He finally, _finally_ looked directly at Isaac.

Isaac was sure he looked like the personification of absolute confusion by now, but even he felt the defensive wall, which he hadn't even noticed was there, breaking down. "I didn't. I just planted the tree, gave it some water, and went home. That was it."

Garet nodded, seeming to slowly, finally accept that. "Alright. I must just be tired." He scrubbed a hand over his forehead. "Sorry."

Isaac nodded his acceptance of the apology, or at least to acknowledge it. "No problem. Don't worry about it." Lame, he knew, but what else was there to say?

"What type of tree was it again?"

Isaac looked up from switching out his books. "Dogwood," he said, hoping he didn't make it sound like it was too obvious an answer.

"Dogwood, right." Garet was nodding distractedly to himself again. Isaac finished stacking the new set of books of his binder. "Listen, there's… um… Jenna and Felix were thinking of having us all over for a study thing this afternoon at their place." It was an obvious subject change attempt, but Isaac was fine going along with it. "Middle of the week and due dates coming up and all that. You're invited, if you want to come."

"Yeah… Yeah, that sounds good." Maybe, just maybe, it was time to start branching out. "I'm behind in Lit." His mom would be working late, anyway, so why not give this "hanging out" thing a try?

Oh Sol, his mom. She'd never stop gushing joy once she got wind of this.

Garet seemed to have been expecting another decline of the invite, but the change in answer threw him off for the better. For all of the frowning so far that day, Isaac's acceptance of the invite as good as blocked out everything that came before.

"Really?" Garet was disbelieving of the response, but smiled hesitantly when Isaac nodded again. "Alright. We'll leave right after fourth period, so… Just follow along with the girls, I guess, and we'll meet you at the parking lot. That work?"

Once Isaac had confirmed that and a couple other small details, Garet, still not entirely sure of himself but running with it, said his goodbyes and headed for class. Isaac quickly finished switching out his own notes and a nearly forgotten textbook. That talk with Garet had used up almost all of the spare time he would normally have between classes. He'd have to hurry now if he didn't want to be—

"Watch it!"

—late.

Really, Sol? _Really?_ All he had done was turn away from his locker to go to class. Did that really have to be such a difficult thing?!

Getting his own temper tamped down, he figured it was good that at least this time, it wasn't Alex he had bumped into. No, it was just some random guy. A very _rude_ random guy. Isaac's mind instantly tried to go to Shin, the classmate who had always given him the most trouble back in Tolbi. But Shin was nothing if not cocky. He would've stopped to gloat or say something about holding onto his own books while Isaac spilled all of his, not kept on walking. Which was exactly what this person did: he sent a glare Isaac's way as if it were all Isaac's fault, and then continued pushing his way through the herd of students. That left Isaac to the task of scrambling to grab his things before they were trampled beyond repair.

A page of math here, a diagram from history there. Most of it—thank _Sol!_—had stayed in his black binder. The pages that scattered were mostly ones that had been stuffed into the pockets at the end of a class, or had torn at the holes.

The cartoony flow chart of the scientific method from biology was kicked and fluttered across to the opposite row of lockers. A small loss.

As Isaac was stacking his Biology lab handbook on top of the textbook for World History, his spiral bound notebook of graph paper floated in on top of the pile. No, not float. There was a hand attached. Okay, that sounded weird, even in Isaac's head.

"Here you go."

Following the arm attached to the hand, Isaac came face to face with the boy he recognized from the cafeteria the previous week. And again from the bathroom when he'd been talking to Jenna—Oh geez, he'd been kneeling on the ground then, too. How pathetic this kid must think him, huh? On the bright side, between the two of them, the remaining books and notes were quickly retrieved.

"Thanks for the help…" Isaac trailed off as they returned to standing. It was at that point when he realized that was twice now the kid had helped him, yet he still didn't know a name other than "That Short Kid." It was kind of silly, really.

"Ivan." The kid smiled cheerily. "Ivan Hammet. I'd offer to shake hands, but… yours look a little full." He raised a comical brow as he sized up the varied bundle Isaac was clinging to. No way was Isaac going to go dropping anything else that day!

"Isaac Wood," Isaac offered in return. "Thanks again. I really need to get go-"

"I wouldn't worry. Mr. Lys is going to be running late." Isaac stared at the kid. He thought he picked up on a twitch in the smile, but Ivan quickly turned it into a larger grin. "The class was on your note labels. Pretty much an open book." Yeah, that made sense. "Nice meeting you Isaac! Bye!"

And that…

"Uh… Yeah. Bye."

That was a quick escape.

Ivan darted down and across the hall, navigating his way through the crowd with ease to reach someone who could almost pass as a twin. The two spoke quickly as they started to walk. Before disappearing, though, the twin turned. It was then that Isaac realized Ivan's double was, in fact, female. So were they family, or just a couple that liked to look a lot alike? He could just imagine Jenna or Mia commenting on how a couple-thing like that would be "cute."

Isaac then realized with a start that the girl wasn't simply looking the opposite way down the hall. No, more specifically, she was looking back at _him_. Actually, it felt more like she was looking _through_ him; like she could see him for who he _really_ was.

Feeling much more self-aware than before, Isaac diverted his gaze, tugged his jacket straight at the hems with one hand, and hurried to class.

* * *

That afternoon, Isaac rode with Felix and Mia, while Jenna hopped in the passenger side to Garet's truck. The Terrafue house was far more modest than the Jerra house had been. If anything, it looked a lot closer to how his new home appeared, but a little larger to allow for maybe an extra bedroom and extra space. So he hadn't really befriended a bunch of people who were top class and would laugh at him if ever they saw his home. Isaac felt himself sitting more at ease at this revelation.

"Okay, before we begin, I have a very important question to discuss with you, Isaac." Isaac halted, two steps into the family room and backpack halfway off his shoulder. Jenna leaned with her arms spread wide to support her weight against the peninsula counter dividing the kitchen from the room. Her serious tone and critical eye put him on edge, and the way she stressed the "very" didn't help. She wasn't going to interrogate him about the tree, too, was she? Had something else happened that he didn't know of yet? Jenna continued, still speaking in dead seriousness. "Oreos… or potato chips?"

Wait, what?

"Ice cream!"

Jenna sent a dark look at the culprit. "No one asked you, Garet."

"Cake!"

"Felix, shut. up!"

"He's lying. Stick with the pie."

Jenna hung her head and groaned in irritation. "I swear to _Sol_, if you two clowns don't knock it off…"

They would never find out the rest of that threat. Even as she said it, Jenna had started to smile. Felix killed the rest of the image by ruffling at the top of her head as he walked by her for the kitchen, earning him a shrill yelp and smack to the arm.

Mia giggled at Isaac's lost look of confusion. "They're always like that. We're all mostly the same age, but Jenna's like the little sister for the whole group because of Felix."

"Oh." Okay, he could see how that would happen. But Mia's explanation reminded him of something. It was a question he'd thought of early on, but had yet to ask anyone. "So they aren't twins or adopted or something?"

Something in Mia's expression changed at the question. Isaac momentarily wondered if he'd said something wrong by asking, but her smile quickly righted itself. "No, nothing like that. Felix used to be a grade ahead of us all. He's really smart, but… well…" She cast a glance towards the kitchen. The other three were arguing around the opened fridge, but her volume dropped anyway. "Some things happened back in middle school, and he ended up repeating a year. He doesn't really like to talk about it." The request to not ask more about the topic was left silent.

It was at that point when Garet exited the kitchen with a mockingly imperious strut. "Okay!" Garet declared and clapped his hands together in a solid grasp. "Pizza: what toppings are a Sol yes, and what toppings are a Hel no?"

* * *

Jenna had been quick to stake her claim for the smaller of the two couches. Mia had been content with sitting on the floor next to that couch and making use of the coffee table. That left the three guys to figure out if they wanted to share the remaining couch. It had been Felix who first sat, wedging himself between the armrest and the back cushions at the far end to the right and cracking open his required reading. Garet had taken up the other end, but gradually stretched out. Isaac smirked when he saw what Garet was planning, and had seated himself safely on the floor. His back was against the armrest Garet was draping over, his textbook and notepaper propped against a raised knee.

"Wait wait wait. She really said that?"

Mia shrugged innocently. "I know! I was surprised, too." Jenna gawped in shock at the news.

Personally, Isaac had no clue what they were gossiping about. It was something about some girl at school, but that was about all he could understand. Even Felix and Garet were wisely staying out of the conversation by opting to stay glued to their textbooks.

"Isaac." Isaac lifted his head and craned his neck when Garet addressed him. "We didn't freak your mom out by kidnapping you today, did we?"

"Nah." He shook his head and turned back to the textbook. "Things have been busy lately, so she had to work late tonight."

The nearby gossiping paused. "Where's she work, Isaac?"

He turned a page in the book and skimmed the words as he answered Jenna's question. "She's one of the secretaries at I think a consulting office in town. Sometimes she'll pick up shifts at that old diner down on Main—you know, the one with the old jukebox and organ keyboard in the corner?—but the desk job keeps her too busy most of the time."

Jenna grimaced in sympathy. "Ouch. That's a rough schedule to keep."

"It pays better than what she had back in Tolbi, at least. That's pretty much all she cares about right now. The inheritance helped out some, but there are still bills to pay now and college to figure out for later, is what she says." Honestly, Isaac wasn't even sure if he'd be going to college. His mom was nothing if not determined, though.

"Oh, that sounds familiar, huh, Felix?" Felix raised his eyes to give his sister a flat stare over the top of his book, then returned to his reading without a word. "Our parents have been nagging him around the clock to sign up for the advanced classes. Which he _should_ be in, anyway." Felix didn't grace the jab with any sign of response.

Garet, on the other hand, couldn't pass up a chance to bug Felix. He slumped down where he sat, stretching out one white socked foot to nudge at the bottom of Felix's book. "Yeah, Felix. Why no advanced classes?" Felix tilted the book enough to send Garet a cold glare, but the redhead merely put on an even cheekier grin. "Eh? Eh eh?" The toe-to-book tapping persisted. Finally, Felix reacted by grabbing the offending ankle and, with a triumphant smirk of his own, twisted with a sudden jerk to send Garet rolling off the couch.

Or at least that's what Isaac figured was supposed to happen. The last thing he saw before a pile of Garet landed right on him was Felix's face morphing into a look of stricken surprise. Then there were two thuds, and Garet's yelp drowned out the sound of Isaac's winded gasp.

Jenna burst out laughing at the sight. Garet had fallen right over, hitting his right forearm on the coffee table before knocking hard into Isaac's left side and squishing the smaller teen into the floor. Garet's arm would maybe bruise after it was done smarting, and Isaac's eyes had gone impressively wide at the collision, but from what she could see, no serious damage had been done. "You guys alright?"

Garet was first to recover. His mouth formed a large "O" in silent and comical pain as he slowly found and gripped the underside of his sore forearm with the opposite hand, simultaneously rising to sit on his own butt instead of poor Isaac's ribs. "Owwwww."

"Oh, you baby. That's what you get for sticking socks in people's faces." Jenna leaned sideways to better see Isaac's still winded and dazed expression. "You okay there, Isaac?"

The blonde gulped down two breaths of precious air. "Y-yeah. Yeah, I'm good."

"You sure? You look a little pale."

"Just knocked the air outta me, is all."

Jenna shrugged and accepted the answer as good enough. "Garet?"

"I demand my skin back!" Everyone stared at Garet for that odd demand. Sure enough, now that he'd had time to properly start examining his arm, it turned out that he would have more than just a bruise after all. Spots of pink and unnatural shine showed where the table's edge had scraped away the topmost layer of skin, while pinprick dots of red under the skin indicated the full area of the abrasion.

Garet hissed as he tested the edges of the worst of it. Oh, that was definitely going to smart for a while. Isaac grimaced with the redhead, at the same time gripping a higher area on his own left shoulder. "Should go rinse that. Cool water, only." He leaned back to nudge Garet on the shoulder blade. Garet only nodded. Neither noticed that Mia had moved until she knelt next to Garet, opposite to Isaac.

"Here, let me see," she instructed with her regular calming grace. Taking his wrist in hand, she examined the wound. Isaac tilted his head to rest it against the couch cushion beside them, eyes closed and still partially leaning against the taller boy. "Isaac's right. Cool water will ease the irritation, then you can—OH MY GODS!" With a jolt, Isaac twisted to see what was happening. Whatever it was, it had everyone else staring with wide eyes at Garet's scrape. Mia had dropped Garet's arm, clutching her hands to her chest and looking on the edge of being horrified. Garet didn't seem to know what to make of it at all, and was holding his arm out as though expecting it to suddenly catch fire.

"What? What happened?" No one seemed prepared to answer. "Guys?"

"H-his arm… my hand… it…" Mia made a noise that was nearly a whimper.

Felix carefully shifted on the couch so that his feet were flat on the floor. "It was blue. Why… When she…" He shook his head, bewildered and at a loss for words.

"Mia, try it again," Jenna spoke, making Isaac jump. He had completely missed her moving to stand behind him, one hand on the armrest so she could lean over Isaac and Garet's heads to see.

Mia hesitated, but reached out as instructed. This time, Isaac was watching. No sooner did her fingertips brush Garet's arm did it happen: a pale illumination, blue and serene as the clearest sky, shimmered in wisps around Mia's fingers. Whatever it was, delicate tendrils of it danced and trickled from the point of contact. It was beautiful and eerie all at once.

To his credit, Garet held still for several seconds as the light, or whatever it was, trailed over his arm. As it neared the abrasion, he gave an involuntary shudder and jerked away from the touch. The light quickly faded.

All was silent.

"What… was that?" Garet asked under his breath. No one answered. Garet looked to Felix, but Felix could only shrug, still at a loss. Mia was too busy staring at and flexing her fingers to answer or return any looks.

Jenna found her voice next. "Did it… hurt?"

Garet shook his head. "Not really? It was… cold." That seemed to be about all that his brain could process to say for the time.

"I-I don't know what that was." Mia was still studying her hands with a mix of awe and fear. "I've never seen that before. I don't- I don't know what that was…" Her voice broke and trailed off.

Isaac realized she was about ready to cry. "Guys."

Jenna walked around the coffee table to hover near Mia's side. "It's alright. We'll figure this out." She looked between Garet and Felix. "Right guys? There's gotta be an explanation. You're going to be just fine." She was trying to be reassuring. Too bad her speedy talking gave her away.

Mia started to snap. "But what _is_ it?"

"Um… guys?"

"I don't know! Maybe it's like your hair?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Guys!"

"Nothing! It's just something that's different-"

"My hair is _natural_. Glowy hands is not natural. I don't need something else making me stand out!"

"Okay, okay! Don't panic—"

"I'm not panicking!"

"Hey! QUIET!" Everyone instantly fell silent to stare at Isaac is shock. Honestly, he surprised even himself with that one. He took several breaths before speaking again at a normal volume. "Just… Calm down. It's not something to freak out over."

"Isaac, Mia's hands were just _glowing blue_." Jenna motioned at Mia with a hand of her own. "That's not really something people don't normally 'freak out' about."

Isaac wasn't deterred. "Hear me out, here. It's… Ah, Sol, how to explain this…" Shaking his head, he glanced around the room for anything that might spark an idea. "Here! This."

Felix tilted his head. "The plastic plant?"

Isaac stopped moving to the fake greenery. No, no, that wouldn't do. "What plants are real here? No, wait. This one."

"Yeah. How'd you—?"

"You'll see." Isaac turned his body next to the Peace Lily so that he faced them, and so that they would have a clear view. It wasn't an overly impressive plant. Two buds and one flower in actual bloom, with leaves in the beginning stages of drooping to show a need for watering soon.

In other words, perfect for what he was about to do.

He cast a nervous glance at the others, all of whom were now standing. "This isn't exactly how I ever imagined telling someone, but… well… Bear with me."

Garet was getting tired of the delays. He wanted to know what was happening to Mia! "Isaac, buddy. No offense, but what does an indoor plant have to do with any of this?"

Isaac rolled his eyes skyward. Then, in what seemed to everyone else like a random and unrelated move, he waved his left hand up and in front of him. It looked much like someone erasing a line on a whiteboard, or shooing a fly, until the sudden whack and an "Ow!" from Garet at the end. The other three near him jumped and turned, almost missing the textbook falling to the floor at his feet. Garet rubbed at his side. "Can I _please_ stop getting beat up now? I can't—" Isaac could as good as see the mental gears turning in Garet's mind. "Wait… That book… was over there." Garet pointed to the spot on the table where Isaac's textbook had previously sat. "How did you…?"

"Told you to hear me out." Isaac shrugged as all eyes returned to him. "As for what a plant has to do with anything… well…"

* * *

Mia had seen a lot in her young life. She had seen people go through ups and downs; joys and sorrows. She had seen lives devastated beyond repair, and she had seen people fight the odds to continue moving forward. She had seen snow fall, the sun rise, and ships sail, and there had been a time when she had valued it all. Mia had been a person who lived for the silver linings. She was a person who had seen and appreciated the beauty of many things.

But as a golden glow warmed and flowed from the fingertips on Isaac's left hand to one of the two buds on the Peace Lily beside him—particles of light shimmering and trailing lazily through the haze and bond as he coaxed health back into the dulling greens—she came to a conclusion: very little could be considered half as beautiful as this.

"So…" Isaac said with a breathy chuckle. His fingers tapped nervously at his sides. The light from before was now gone. As for the plant, the previously dull bud had bloomed into the most spectacular white, the spadix at the center a healthy pale cream. The full, speckled leaves stood strong on their stems, with no traces of the telltale wilt remaining. The original bloom had strengthened as well, though it and the second of the buds were nowhere near as brilliant as the one that had channeled the golden aura. "That answer your question?"

It did.

Gods… It really did.

* * *

_"In Kalay, residents are on alert after a young boy was reportedly attacked by a red vermin yesterday on his way home from school. The boy sustained minor injuries, and is being treated today as a precaution against infectious diseases. The red vermin, a variant of its blue vermin cousin to the north, is typically considered to be a very shy and timid creature. Animal control officials have so far been unable to locate and capture the animal in question, and warn that the behavior may be the result of rabies or other disease. If you encounter a vermin or any other animal displaying atypical behavior, do not approach it, and call emergency officials as soon as possible."_

* * *

**CHAPTER THREE - END**

* * *

Wait, what's this? Could it really be… _metaplot_?! Or… no… wait. Maybe it's just the foreshadowing of the doom of Weyardkind. So hard to tell, these days.

Oh god, this took way longer than I planned. Sorry about that. I did not anticipate panicky teens to be so difficult for me to write. Then there were weddings and summer internship credits and real life commitments and oh the woe of it all. Anywho, chapter 4 will hopefully be much more interesting. It may be mainly an explanation and backstory chapter. It may also be a more timely update, since a pretty huge chunk of the dialogue and actions were written out in the chapter's outline. For now, I'll set the tentative upload day for Sept. 6th. If anything changes, I'll make a note of it on my profile. For those interested, I've also begun to post TNK:R over on deviantArt. More options for your reading pleasure! FF.N updates will typically happen on a Friday, while dA updates will follow a few days later on Sunday or Monday (still deciding).

And now, review responses for chapters 1 and 2! I'm old-fashioned like that. ;p

**abyssdoor** – Hello! XD The sentiment is greatly appreciated.

**Galdr** – And thank _you_ for reviewing. It's good to see you again!

**Spirit Seer** – Point for remembering what tree was used! I'm glad the small town vibe is coming across. I didn't take advantage of the small town setting much originally, because I was mostly familiar with living in small town farming communities until college. Now THAT was a shock! Not as much for me as my first roommate-she called home to tell her mom she had seen a bus that bent in the middle, while the rest of us just went, "Yeah, that's why we call them accordion buses"-but still a decent helping of culture shock. And it's something that I think would play more of a role in Isaac's actions and personality than what was originally there in TNK. Garet, on the other hand, has grown up in a small town, but his family has big town influences. It kind of balances him out more into the down-to-earth and fun loving personality I've always liked to pair with him, and we should see more about his approach to things as a result as the story progresses. As for what's going on at the start and end of the chapters... I'm keeping mum on that one. 8D It may be fun to see what theories people come up with, though.

**HyruleLegend** – You! Yep, 10 years, and you _still don't have an account_!? Not that it's a problem, just giving you a hard time (and hoping I'm not being a jerk by giving grief to the wrong HyruleLegend XD;; ). That's an amazing sixth sense you have there. Thanks for reviewing. Glad to have you back!

**Prothea** – Thank you very much for that. It is sad to see a fave fandom slowing in activity. I guess it comes with the territory. But I love the games and I love to write, and fanfic writing is more or less my personal testing ground. I foresee continuing to put the GS characters to use for a looooong time to come.

To the reviewers, fave-adders, followers, and everyone else, thanks for reading!


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